Addiction Treatment

• Do you drink or use more than you intend?
• Are loved ones concerned about your drug or alcohol use?
• Do you need drugs or alcohol to manage anxiety, depression or past trauma?

Everyone struggles with a different set of challenges and triggers when it comes to working with addictive substances and behaviors. Because of this, each person needs a slightly different approach to learning new, healthy patterns that will free you from excessive alcohol and/or drug use.

At Counseling Services of Portland, you will learn addiction recovery skills that will work well for your unique situation. Your therapist will start by learning about your needs and circumstances to help you learn to either moderate your use or gain the skills for complete abstinence.

Your therapist will seek to understand you as a whole person: your emotional needs, social needs, medical needs, your family history, and any spiritual or religious resources or challenges you bring.

You and your therapist will assess both your needs and your strengths and create a plan tailored just for you. This may include:

• Practical ways to manage thoughts and emotions
• Getting social support that works for you
• Creating stronger, healthier relationships
• Addressing issues with friends and family that may either trigger excess use, or support new goals
• Learning practical ways to identify and manage triggers
• Creating a plan to help you avoid slipping back into old patterns
• Stress management, relaxation, mindfulness
• Learning effective self-care strategies
• Traditional and alternative tools to integrate care of your body, mind and spirit.
• Re-building your confidence and ability to experience healthy pleasures

Your therapist will use a blend of practical, modern, research-based tools to help you achieve goals that are important to you. These include:

• Motivational interviewing. We understand where you are in the 6 stages of making sustainable, long lasting change. We use a positive, nonjudgmental, client-friendly stance on addiction treatment and help you make changes when you are prepared to make them.
• Cognitive behavioral therapy. Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, helps you examine and change habitual ways of thinking that block your progress.
• Dialectical behavior therapy. DBT helps you find the deeper meaning in making important changes in your life, and finding self-acceptance. Based on the practice of mindfulness, DBT can relieve anxiety and depression by helping you relax in the moment.
• Relapse prevention training. Many clients mistaken believe that all they need to do is quit. The truth is that reducing or stopping an addictive behavior involves many steps and new habits.

How Individual Addiction Treatment works for you.

You will work with your therapist in private sessions to acquire self-knowledge, insight into addiction, and a stronger sense of inner strength. Sessions usually last about 50 minutes to an hour, once a week for at least 3 months. Most people find that it takes about 3 months to investigate old habits and gradually introduce new ones that work for you.

Modern day substance abuse treatment is based on respect, and working together toward goals that are important to you. You may be surprised that the support and encouragement of your therapist will make you look forward to your sessions!

Older approaches used used confrontation, condemnation and interventions.  We find that a gentler, more collaborative approach is more effective.

The Benefits Of Individualized Treatment

We like to offer you individualized treatment to help you learn about your unique strengths and challenges, so your therapy becomes a path of discovery rather than something you feel like you should do. Many people have deeply buried guilt or shame that keeps them from getting help. We want to help you rebuild your healthy sense of self-efficacy not “should on yourself.”

In your sessions, you will have

• One-on-one time with your counselor, where your needs and wants come first
• Sessions focus on you, allowing you to progress faster
• Confidentiality and privacy so you can explore vulnerabilities in your own time
• Collaborative accountability to goals that are important to you

Taking the step toward creating a better life for yourself takes  courage and sometimes desperation. It can be scary to ask for help.

We want to make the process of getting better easy, gentle and sustainable.

Please give us a call to get started, and take that first step toward a better life.

To book an appointment

Call us at 503-342-2510 or “Text us” at 503-342-2510 or email us